Monday, September 06, 2004
Rambling Thoughts from a challenged young boy...
Once more I have nothing witty to write but again something more serious…
Have recently been challenged by things I’ve read, heard and thought about. Here are just three of them.
Before I do that… those who read are possibly dear friends to me. So if you are one of those reading this blog thank you. Your friendship means so much to me. Its always an encouragement to know there are people of my age who have like cares and concerns for the glory of God and advancement of the gospel (however weak and infrequent they may be).
Firstly, was thinking about my conversations with my friends and also the way I pray for you guys. It’s so easy for me to talk to people and ask them questions along the lines of;
“How are things going with special Mr/ Miss X?”
“What did you get up to today? Where are you going tomorrow? School interesting?”
To answer questions like those are easy too. But perhaps there should be something different that I care about.
When was the last or even the only time that I asked my friends questions such as;
How are things with your soul?
How would you answer a question like that if your friend asked you that? If I was faced with that question I would feel awkward, but maybe that is what I need.
I should care almost as much for the advancement of my friends faith as I do mine (which also needs to increase leaps and bounds).
The same could go for my praying… it’s so easy to get on my knees at my bed at night and pray along the lines of…
“I pray loving Father that you would be with X in his driving test today and help him enjoy the rest of his holiday.”
Something I need to pray about in my intecessorary prayers more is the spiritual growth and encouragement of my friends. Perhaps they should more be along the lines of…
“Gracious Father give X encouragement to go on in the faith yearning to learn more about you and grow visibly in his faith.”
So friends who read this (if any) I’m sorry for my lack of concern for things that are important in your lives.
Secondly, how broad are my prayers? I am amazed at how often I finish a prayer and have only prayed for myself. That is selfish and clearly unbiblical. The only question is, how broad and wide can I get my praying? I’ve heard of many men who pray for those who’ve they’ve never met. It amazes me when we have ministers I’ve never heard of for lunch (well, we don’t eat them, we have them over for lunch) and they show what a profound interest they truly have for the work of our small church in Cambridge and how they labour in prayer for our Church. So even when I “dare” to extend my prayers beyond myself I can still be so narrow. It’s a shame.
A third thought is this:
How does my readings in the Bible and of reformed theology make me more like Christ. Is my knowledge merely a head knowledge or am I seriously intent on walking with God and growing to that ultimate goal of being like Christ. I subscribe to all doctrines of reformed theology seeing that as the most scriptural and sensible approach as a Christian.
But I was thinking to my shame how little impact it has on me. I will never allow myself to sway from the reformed standards (at least I hope so) but wouldn’t it be better to be a charismatic (!) who is growing to be like Christ than a cold hearted Calvinist (if there ever were one). So also, not only should I learn more (I’ve yet to start!) but make it applicable to my life and walk as a Christian.
Sorry for pouring those random cares upon you in such an inarticulate state… Hopefully you might take something from these thoughts or at least know what to pray about for me (if you ever did).
Oh yeah, the link for this post is to the sermons from last years Aber conference. They are long (Joel B was at least an hour and quarter a couple of times). If you have heard of Calvin and respect him the Hamilton guy might be worth listening to :-) is worth listening to even if you dont...
Have recently been challenged by things I’ve read, heard and thought about. Here are just three of them.
Before I do that… those who read are possibly dear friends to me. So if you are one of those reading this blog thank you. Your friendship means so much to me. Its always an encouragement to know there are people of my age who have like cares and concerns for the glory of God and advancement of the gospel (however weak and infrequent they may be).
Firstly, was thinking about my conversations with my friends and also the way I pray for you guys. It’s so easy for me to talk to people and ask them questions along the lines of;
“How are things going with special Mr/ Miss X?”
“What did you get up to today? Where are you going tomorrow? School interesting?”
To answer questions like those are easy too. But perhaps there should be something different that I care about.
When was the last or even the only time that I asked my friends questions such as;
How are things with your soul?
How would you answer a question like that if your friend asked you that? If I was faced with that question I would feel awkward, but maybe that is what I need.
I should care almost as much for the advancement of my friends faith as I do mine (which also needs to increase leaps and bounds).
The same could go for my praying… it’s so easy to get on my knees at my bed at night and pray along the lines of…
“I pray loving Father that you would be with X in his driving test today and help him enjoy the rest of his holiday.”
Something I need to pray about in my intecessorary prayers more is the spiritual growth and encouragement of my friends. Perhaps they should more be along the lines of…
“Gracious Father give X encouragement to go on in the faith yearning to learn more about you and grow visibly in his faith.”
So friends who read this (if any) I’m sorry for my lack of concern for things that are important in your lives.
Secondly, how broad are my prayers? I am amazed at how often I finish a prayer and have only prayed for myself. That is selfish and clearly unbiblical. The only question is, how broad and wide can I get my praying? I’ve heard of many men who pray for those who’ve they’ve never met. It amazes me when we have ministers I’ve never heard of for lunch (well, we don’t eat them, we have them over for lunch) and they show what a profound interest they truly have for the work of our small church in Cambridge and how they labour in prayer for our Church. So even when I “dare” to extend my prayers beyond myself I can still be so narrow. It’s a shame.
A third thought is this:
How does my readings in the Bible and of reformed theology make me more like Christ. Is my knowledge merely a head knowledge or am I seriously intent on walking with God and growing to that ultimate goal of being like Christ. I subscribe to all doctrines of reformed theology seeing that as the most scriptural and sensible approach as a Christian.
But I was thinking to my shame how little impact it has on me. I will never allow myself to sway from the reformed standards (at least I hope so) but wouldn’t it be better to be a charismatic (!) who is growing to be like Christ than a cold hearted Calvinist (if there ever were one). So also, not only should I learn more (I’ve yet to start!) but make it applicable to my life and walk as a Christian.
Sorry for pouring those random cares upon you in such an inarticulate state… Hopefully you might take something from these thoughts or at least know what to pray about for me (if you ever did).
Oh yeah, the link for this post is to the sermons from last years Aber conference. They are long (Joel B was at least an hour and quarter a couple of times). If you have heard of Calvin and respect him the Hamilton guy might be worth listening to :-) is worth listening to even if you dont...
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